Lilli Mae, On the way home - Leg 4 - The Big One - Update 13th December 19
Lilli Mae
Linton
Fri 13 Dec 2019 15:10
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Hi Everyone,
Hope all is well? For those of you in the UK I would
guess you are either celebrating or not given the election results. Despite
being 100's of miles offshore news travels fast.
Anyway we are now less than 300 miles from St Lucia and
closing in fast. We have had more sail area up today than we have had for a few
days. Our estimate of arrival is now not realistic and it will probably be more
late Sunday or possibly early Monday we we do get in. We did have g'n't to
celebrate the less than 300 to go milestone today.
We had quite a frustrating day yesterday; the winds were
light and then they dropped to nothing. For nearly 3 hours we "bimbled" around
in the ocean not really knowing which way to go. Not quite sure what other crew
members thought but there were times that use of the engine was the only way
out; and then came along a "friendly" squall. The irony of course that for most
of the trip they have been the enemy and in this case we need it to give us a
boost. Pete and I were in the cockpit (Mike resting) and so we battened
everything down and then waited. The squall must have taken us at least 3 miles
and then left some wind behind so we could sail again.
Today as mentioned we have most of the sails up and the
head sail poled out on the port side and the mainsail on the starboard. We have
about 15 knots of wind and we are travelling quite fast which is great; about 7
knots. This morning we had some amazing clouds which also gave some wind. I have
attached a couple of pictures so you can see what they looked like.
We had quite a laugh yesterday evening thinking about
our boat safety video production. We made video clips of "helpful" safety hints
and tips; Here is me doing dinner with as much safety equipment I could find.
Strapped to a burning stove but at least I have my life jacket on! "What's this
you are cooking?" I hear you say. What about all these stir fry's, katsu curries
you say you have been cooking? Well we had a day off from gourmet dining and eat
beans with a "Spanish potatoe cheese thing" to end the day. We did have a
quiet night and most people got some sleep.
With 300 to go I think it is now true that we would all
now like to get there. There are signs of fatigue and I think that everyone is
looking forward to a night of sleep in a relatively stationary position;
notwithstanding the need for clothes washing and general boat
tidy-up.
Anyway I think that is it for the moment. We will
definitely send something when we get sight of land and then when we actually
land. So we will be in contact.
In the meantime take care.
Crew aboard Lilli Mae
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